Alexander von Humboldt? Moritz Goldschmidt? Edward O. Wilson? Phil Cousineau? Martin Kues? Anonymous?
Question for Quote Investigator: Often people with a misguided, narrow, or dogmatic view of the world have never fully experienced the world. The following saying functions as a warning:
The most dangerous worldview is the worldview of those who have not viewed the world.
This statement has been attributed to the German naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt. However, I have never seen a solid citation, and I am skeptical. Would you please explore the provenance of this expression?
Reply from Quote Investigator: Austrian quotation expert Gerald Krieghofer carefully examined this topic and found no substantive support for the attribution to Alexander von Humboldt who died in 1859. Krieghofer contacted Dr. Ingo Schwarz of the Alexander von Humboldt Research Center at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities who also indicated that the quotation was absent from the writings of Humboldt.1
The earliest match known to QI appeared in 1895 within the “Münchener Kunst- und Theater-Anzeiger” (“Munich Art and Theater Gazette”) which published the following five lines in an article featuring “Sinngedichte” (“Epigrammatic Poems”) by Moritz Goldschmidt. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:2
Seltsamste Weltanschauungen heute
Schießen wunderbar üppig ins Kraut
Gefährlich allein ist stets die erneute
Furchtbare Weltanschauung der Leute,
Die die Welt nie angeschaut.
Here is one possible English translation:
The strangest worldviews nowadays
Are sprouting up in wild profusion;
The only truly dangerous one is the recurring,
Dreadful worldview of those people
Who have never actually looked at the world.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
In 1898 the saying appeared in a German-language newspaper of Baltimore, Maryland called “Der Sonntags=Correspondent” (“The Sunday Correspondent”). The words were credited to a person using the initials “O. R.”:3
Die gefährlichste aller Weltanschauungen ist die Weltanschauung der Leute, die nie die Welt angeschaut haben.
For the remainder of this article German passages will be followed by English renderings:
The most dangerous of all worldviews is the worldview of people who have never looked at the world.
In 1913 “Der Deutsche Correspondent” (“The German Correspondent”) newspaper of Baltimore, Maryland published the following variant saying as a filler item:4
Die am meisten von Weltanschauung sprechen, haben die Welt kaum angeschaut.
Those who speak the most about worldviews have hardly looked at the world.
By the 1980s the saying was credited to Alexander von Humboldt.
The financial newspaper “Blick durch die Wirtschaft” (“Economic Overview”) of Frankfurt, Germany often published quotations and aphorisms in the lower right section of its front page. Many of these items were compiled in the book “Rechts Unten” (“Bottom Right”). The second volume of this series, which was published in 1987 contained the following item:5
Die gefährlichste aller Weltanschauungen ist die Weltanschauung der Leute, welche die Welt nie angeschaut haben.
Alexander von HumboldtThe most dangerous of all worldviews is the worldview of people who have never looked at the world.
Alexander von Humboldt
In 1990 the book “Treffend bemerkt: Das Buch der 1000 Aphorismen” (“Aptly Noted: The Book of 1,000 Aphorisms”) included an entry which exactly matched the statement and attribution in “Rechts Unten II”.6
In 2003 the book “Unsere Besten: Die 100 größten Deutschen” (“Our Best: The 100 Greatest Germans”) included a section for Alexander von Humboldt which contained another version of the saying:7
»Am schlimmsten ist die Weltanschauung derer, die die Welt nie angeschaut haben.«
HUMBOLDT“The worst worldview is that of those who have never looked at the world.”
HUMBOLDT
In 2012 “The Painted Word: A Treasure Chest of Remarkable Words and Their Origins” by Phil Cousineau included an entry for the following word:8
WELTANSCHAUUNG (GERMAN)
A comprehensive worldview; a personal philosophy of the world
that encompasses a wide-world perception.
The entry included an instance of the saying under examination in German and English:
The German adventurer, scientist, biologist, philosopher, and memoirist Alexander Von Humboldt wrote, “Die gefährlichste Weltanschauung ist die Weltanschauung derer, die die Welt nie angeschaut haben.” (“The most dangerous worldview is the worldview of those who have not viewed the world.”)
In 2014 the “Breese Journal” of Breese, Illinois published an article about a German motorcyclist and traveler named Martin Kues. The article began with the following:9
Martin Kues has a motto: “Am schlimmsten ist die Weltanschauung derer, die die Welt nie angeschaut haben.”
They are the words of the late Alexander von Humboldt, a famous German geographer and explorer. The translation: “Worst of all is the belief of those who have never looked at the world.”
In 2016 influential U.S. biologist Edward O. Wilson published “Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life” which contained the following passage:10
It has been my impression that those most uncaring and prone to be dismissive of the wildlands and the magnificent biodiversity these lands still shelter are quite often the same people who have had the least personal experience with either. I think it relevant to quote the great explorer-naturalist Alexander von Humboldt on this subject, as true in his time as it is in ours: “The most dangerous worldview is the worldview of those who have not viewed the world.”
In conclusion, the attribution to Alexander von Humboldt is currently unsupported. Moritz Goldschmidt communicated this idea in a short poem in 1895 although Goldschmidt’s phrasing was not compact. In 1898 a newspaper in Baltimore, Maryland printed a match. The creator was only identified with the initials “O.R.”. Alexander von Humboldt implausibly received credit decades later in the 1980s. Perhaps future researchers will discover citations which provide further illumination.
In Memoriam: For the brilliant researcher Gerald Krieghofer who left us too early.
Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Hilary Caws-Elwitt whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. Many thanks to Gerald Krieghofer for his pioneering research on this quotation and many others. Special thanks to Arno Tator who found the key 1895 citation. Praise to Bernd-Christoph Kämper who found the excellent 1898 citation. Further thanks to Ralf Bülow who found a helpful match from a writer who died in 1927.
Image Notes: Public domain map of a fantasy world with dragons and serpents. The image has been resized.
- Website: ZITATFORSCHUNG: FALSCHZITATE mit Belegen und Kommentaren (CITATION RESEARCH: MISATTRIBUTIONS with sources and commentary), Article title: “Die gefährlichste aller Weltanschauungen ist die Weltanschauung der Leute, welche die Welt nie angeschaut haben.” Alexander von Humboldt (angeblich), Article author: Gerald Krieghofer, Date on website: September 18, 2017, Website description: Research on the provenance of quotations by Gerald Krieghofer. (Accessed falschzitate.blogspot.com on July 2, 2026) link ↩︎
- 1895 October 17, Münchener Kunst- und Theater-Anzeiger (Munich Art and Theater Gazette), Number 2792, Litterarisches Sinngedichte (Literary Epigrams), Aus „Neue Sinngedichte“ von Moritz Goldschmidt (From New Epigrams by Moritz Goldschmidt) Quote Page 1, Column 3, Munich, Germany. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1898 April 10, Der Sonntags=Correspondent (The Sunday Correspondent), Texte für Sonntags=Betrachtungen Dritte Lese von O. R. (Texts for Sunday Reflections Third Reading by O. R.) Quote Page 9, Column 2, Baltimore, Maryland. (Newspapers_com) link ↩︎
- 1913 October 5, Der Deutsche Correspondent, (Filler item), Quote Page 10, Column 5, Baltimore, Maryland. (Newspapers_com) link ↩︎
- 1987, Rechts Unten II (Bottom Right II), Section: Television, Quote Page 61, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Frankfurt am Main. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1990, Treffend bemerkt: Das Buch der 1000 Aphorismen (Aptly Noted: The Book of 1,000 Aphorisms), Quote Page 116, Weltbild Verlag, Augsburg, Germany. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 2003, Unsere Besten: Die 100 größten Deutschen (Our Best: The 100 Greatest Germans) by Guido Knopp and Peter Arens, Chapter: Alexander von Humboldt 1769-1859, Start Page 160, Quote Page 162, Econ Verlag, München, Germany. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 2012 Copyright, The Painted Word: A Treasure Chest of Remarkable Words and Their Origins by Phil Cousineau, Topic: Weltanschauung (German), Start Page 375, Quote Page 376, Viva Editions: An imprint of Cleis Press Inc., Berkeley, California. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 2014 April 17, Breese Journal, A good look at the world by Vicky Albers (Breese Journal Editor), Quote Page F1, Column 1, Breese, Illinois. (Newspapers_com) link ↩︎
- 2016 Copyright, Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life by Edward O. Wilson, Chapter 9: The Most Dangerous Worldview, Quote Page 79, Liveright Publishing Corporation: A Division of W. W. Norton & Company, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎